And just like that another year goes by! To be selfish for just a second, 2023 has been a great year for me and my reading. I finally feel like my university hangover has come to an end and so I have read more than ever before! At the time of writing, that is 50 […]
Horror
Josh Hanson’s Best Horror of 2023
2023 strikes me as a year in which here were a shocking number of great debuts, but as I look back, the trend seems to be a year in which established writers in the horror scene have all of a sudden thrown down their very best work, many of them publishing books that I have […]
Ed’s Top Reads of 2023
Narrowing down my favourite reads to ten was fun and not at all deeply traumatising This year has been a mildly seismic one in my reading tastes (think an earthquake which knocks a few books off your shelf and then quits while it’s ahead) which, as you may notice from this list, are mainly centred […]
Review: The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
Synopsis Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defence of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the […]
Review: Merciless Waters by Rae Knowles
There’s worse things than drowning, folks… Synopsis The sea never changes. Neither do Lily and Jaq. Aboard the ship Scylla, there is no future or past. Jaq, her fickle lover Lily, and their all-female crew exist in an endless present. It’s better this way. At least it keeps Lily by Jaq’s side, where she belongs. […]
Autumn Horrors: a Spotlight on Indie Horror
Featuring C.S. Humble, Rae Knowles, Zach Rosenberg, and Josh Hanson Join the gang as they read from recent work, talk craft, Shirley Jackson, and just have a good chat.
Review: Beast by Matt Wesolowski
Synopsis Elusive online journalist Scott King examines the chilling case of a young vlogger found frozen to death in the legendary local ‘vampire tower’, in another explosive episode of Six Stories. Review For those unfamiliar with the Six Stories series, I will start off by saying that this is book 4 of 6. Having also […]
Navigating The Flanaverse: A Guide to Mike Flanagan on Netflix
As the dust settles on Mike Flanagan’s newest series The Fall of The House of Usher, so too does the dust settle on his time with Netflix. In December of last year Flanagan announced that he had signed a TV deal with Amazon Studios, and although I am sure there will be plenty of long […]
Review: Shattered Spirits – The Fall of Ishcairn by Cal Black
What’s in the bomb? WHAT’S IN THE BOMB??? Synopsis Legends say a dead god is buried under the stone city of Ishcairn, protecting its inhabitants by dashing enemy fleets into the jagged coast of Craeburn. Adjunct professor Corrie Ecksley doesn’t believe any of that, but she knows from her work excavating nearby burial sites that […]
Review: The Anatomy of Fear (Anthology)
Tis the Season to be Terrified, Fa-la-la-la-la la-la-la-arggggghhh Synopsis ‘The skull bell tolled, but only Lena heard it.’ – L.L. MacRae (Bone) Fear is universal – a shared human experience that provokes awe, curiosity and terror. It feeds our anxieties, elevating our heartbeats and driving the instinct to survive. But what are we afraid of […]
Review: Merciless Waters by Rae Knowles
Synopsis Aboard the ship Scylla, there is no future or past. Jaq, her fickle lover Lily, and their all-female crew exist in an endless present. It’s better this way. At least it keeps Lily by Jaq’s side, where she belongs. But the meddling gods care little for Jaq’s longing, and despite her protective rituals, their […]
REVIEW: Yellow Tape and Coffee by Pat Luther
SYNOPSIS Four intertwining stories. Four points of view of a single large event. Four people from different backgrounds with different ideals. And a secret society of werewolves is unveiled in Portland, Oregon. For four hundred years, they have kept their secret. Some will do anything to reveal it. Others will sacrifice everything to keep it. […]